A Timeline of the Ages

Back in August I was blessed with the opportunity to audit a class on Biblical Theology taught by author and Christian theology professor, Stephen J. Wellum. The focus of the class was on how the Bible—by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—fits together as a cohesive whole. One of my favorite take-aways from the class was this timeline:

For the purposes of the class, this timeline was intended to show how the coming of Christ altered the redemptive timeline from what had previously been expected. Before Christ’s ascension and the day of Pentecost, a timeline of redemptive history would have looked more like this:

The Old Testament expectation was that Messiah, the Son of David, would come as a political ruler to re-establish the throne of David, destroy Israel’s enemies, and restore the kingdom to Israel. He would make all things right, and God’s promises to Israel would be fulfilled—all at once—in one uninterrupted timeline.

What the prophets did not anticipate was a delay between the coming of the Messiah (Christ) and his ultimate reign over all the earth. They did not expect the overlap of the ages in which we now live, this time of tension between the inauguration of Christ’s kingdom and the day of its ultimate fulfillment. They never expected the Last Days to be so long.

And, though they knew that God’s reign would one day encompass the nations, the prophets did not foresee the great mystery of the Gospel: that Jew and Gentile would be restored in one body – the body of Messiah himself (Eph. 2:11-3:13), to the unity they once had in Adam, a unity so complete that there would ultimately be no more distinguishing between the two (Gal. 3:27-29). What they never saw coming was the Church. They knew the New Covenant would be new, but they didn’t expect it to be that new.

The chart at top was created to be a simple, helpful visual of God’s redemptive timeline, a picture of the “already and not yet” of prophetic fulfillment in Christ. But I see more than that. Sandwiched between “This Present Age” and “The Age to Come,” I see us, Christ’s people struggling to remain faithful in the Last Days. In those diagonal lines I see the tug of sin and the flesh and the world. I see sickness and death and grief. I see the promised persecution and tribulation (Mt. 10:16ff, Jn. 16:35). I see the downward pull of political saviors and the drag of bucket lists. I see a thousand worldly fears and a thousand temptations to invest our time and energy in this dying age, to keep our eyes fixed on the here and now, and to just have fun.

But all I have to do is look up to see The Age to Come. The promised Messiah has come. All of God’s promises find their fulfillment in him (2 Cor. 1:20). He is the mediator of the promised New Covenant (Heb. 9:15), bringing salvation for his people and inaugurating God’s kingdom. He is the last Adam (Rom. 5:14; 1 Cor. 15:45), the covenant head of God’s new creation, and we are his new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17). His new temple is already under construction, and we are it (Eph. 2:19-22). The promised day of judgment is on its way, and he will be the judge (2 Tim. 4:1). On that day, This Present Age will meet its end. But for those of us who are living in The Age to Come, it will be a day of unimaginable joy,

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Rev. 21:3-4).